These few months seemed promising, but took a toll on Highblood. He's been doing quite well, he thinks, with caring for him, making sure any injuries are properly treated and weren't getting worse, feeding and clothing and bathing him, and trying to help his mind. That was the hardest part. Sometimes he did get a word, and those moments were miraculous, but when he would just see the coherence leave him it felt like they were taking steps back. That wasn't the case, but it felt like it.
During this day, Highblood was out getting more clothing and medical supplies for Helmsman. He was trying his best to hurry, as his paranoia has skyrocketed realizing the public was more or less aware that Highblood was caring for a weak troll. Unfortunately, before he returned, a suspicious highblood made plans to see what this was all about.
The unknown troll slipped in from a few moments of fiddling with the window, getting in and being shocked seeing this yellowblood. The fearsome troll growled, grabbing the Helmsman's wrist and trying to yank him up.
At seeing the other troll, Helmsman jumped and hissed, struggling in the grasp and dug his claws into the troll's wrist. "GHH!" He shouted out as he continued to squirm in the grasp. This, of course, reminded him of when he was first caught. When he was caught to be handed over to become part of the airship. It was terrifying and he shouted out again to try getting out of the grip.
"HAP!" If he could control how to use his abilities, he'd be using them to blast off. Of course, he didn't seem to be so lucky as his horns and eyes sparked.
The unknown troll snarled at the yellowblood. "Filthy lowblood! You belong with the Empress, filthy thing!" The troll snapped at Helmsman, yanking him a little more and gave him a good slap so the lowblood would listen.
Highblood was almost back. Just a little more.
He had a bad feeling in his gut as he stepped into the front doors of his large hive, walking down the halls toward his respite block door at a brisk pace with a box full of what he bought. Something didn't seem right.
And when he heard a shout, his eyes widened. On one hand, Helmsman could just be having a fit again. But because he's been so paranoid, he began running until rushing into his room, shutting the door and dropping the box when he saw a troll he did not recognize. Quickly his shock turned to rage, growling and approaching him.
"RELEASE HIM! NOW!" He roared, so close to killing him on the spot.
The unknown troll stared at Highblood. "This filthy lowblood belongs nowhere NEAR a highblood's hive, sir." He replied as Helmsman squirmed more in the troll's tighter grip while the yellowblood continued to scream a little, a few tears going down his cheeks, the troll yanking Helmsman a little harder. Hard enough to have him fall to the ground.
"Hap..." Helmsman whined and decided to make himself as small as possible to avoid possibly getting hit again. He was terrified. It looked like they might have to start all over again.
"This lowblood should be around only as a slave. It doesn't seem this is the case. What if I were to let slip that you're keeping a lowblood in one of your quadrants?" The troll asked, staring at Highblood as if he were daring him to do anything. "Or would you try and keep it as a slave?" He asked and nudged Helmsman with his foot, causing him to curl up tighter into a ball.
His eyes widened with anger seeing him thrown to the floor, and his only next move was to at least get him away from Helmsman. With a loud growl, Highblood gripped the troll's neck and threw him to the other side of the room, guarding the yellowblood like a feral beast protecting young. He snarled and charged at the troll, pinning him down to the floor and digging his claws into his wrists.
"DO NOT THREATEN ME, MOTHERFUCKER! You have no business in what I'm FUCKING DOING WITH HIM!" The worst part is he was realizing he never denied having Helmsman in his quadrants, or even knew which one. He just knew imagining being a quadrantmate to the other would be miraculous.
"I'll make sure you don't motherfucking breed a word of this to anyone," he growled while baring his sharp teeth, completely planning to use them to tear out his throat.
The troll hardly had time to gasp or even process what was happening until he was on the floor with the claws in his wrists. "How ya gonna make me shut up? And what about other curious trolls who're gonna poke round your quadrantmate?" He asked and continued to stare at him, Helmsman wondering what was going on. Nor did he want to know.
Helmsman managed to make himself into the opposite corner of the room, going back to holding his head and felt a small bit of blood on his forehead, tears still going down his cheeks. It definitely reminded him of the day he was taken away. He hated it. He absolutely hated it. But he was grateful that Highblood had come in good time to protect him.
"Want a dead body on the floor? That what you're gonna do?" The troll asked and decided to look over at Helmsman and laughed. "And he's the most pathetic lowblood I think I've seen so far and that might be saying something. Put it out of his misery."
He knew the other had no way of escape, so he looked back to make sure Helmsman was doing alright. Oh no, he's bleeding. That's okay, that's okay, he can fix it. He can fix that and all this in no time and get right to singing to him soon.
Eyes back on the troll, his growl rumbled in his throat. "I would rather keep killing all you motherfuckers even if the Condesce comes into fucking play you foolish, self-centered piece of SHIT." With that, he opened his mouth and clamped his jaw right down on his jugular, blood beginning to spill as he felt the troll convulse beneath him. So much death now seemed like an oddity since he's invested so much time in being caring and loving to the Helmsman, but he would let this be added to his pocket of trauma from killing so many for the sake of him.
After finally feeling him stop moving, he moved his mouth away and spit out any blood he could, mind set on a series of tasks. "Helmsman," he said calmly. "Do not open your eyes. Look away, brother." He prayed this time the other would process his words.
Helmsman heard the light shout from the troll and simply put his hands over his ears with a nod, though that hurt his head. Bad idea with even his horns aching and having them scrape against the hard floor. "Mnn..." He replied weakly, not wanting to really move anyways. If he didn't want to move, it meant he didn't want to even open his eyes either.
"Y-Yeah, H...Highb...blood." Oh look, he said a few words correctly. Granted, it was slow, but they came out as words and that's what counted for now. But now he had to maybe work on walking. Not quite soon, of course, but some day he will. Some day.
And so he sobbed quietly as he trembled. It was out of fear, but not of Highblood. Just of him being called a lowblood and filth and should be a slave rather than anything worthy of being in a quadrant. Maybe he didn't belong after all. Yeah, he didn't belong anywhere other than in the ship and dying there. Why was he even here? Why was he saved? He wasn't sure, and yet... he was okay right now. Highblood just saved him, was that saying anything?
Hearing him speak stunned him for a moment, and as he blinked tears away, he went to moving the body as silently as possible. It never really mattered who he killed, so he left briefly to dispose of it in the lower, deeper, darker parts of the citadel that held prisoners and criminals. The disposal was easy, but the clean up was more time-consuming.
He tried to make it silent as he washed up the blood in the room, keeping an eye on Helmsman as he did so. The words he spoke to him stuck in his mind.
After changing his bloody clothes and cleaning himself, he reapplied his face paint and walked out to Helmsman. "Alright, all done brother. C'mon, let's get you back in bed. It's okay to look, all that bad shit is gone," he said softly, lifting the other in his arms like he would a wriggler. "Let's take care of that cut," he murmured soothingly while setting him down on the bed.
Looking at him, he wiped off his eyes and put his face into Highblood's shirt with a whimper as he almost seemed to cling to the other while continuing to sob silently, trembling lightly in his arms. "I... f..filth..." He groaned, still clutching onto his shirt for dear life. It was terrible how he felt right now.
When he was set on the bed again, he curled up again. While the small cut was still there, he was going wild on the inside. "I... s..sorry..." He mumbled, leaning his head against Highblood again when he was close enough, almost like he was a wriggler again. And yet he was talking a bit better. Stutters and slurring, but words.
He was safe, he knew that much, but closed his eyes again. Both tired and upset at himself. More upset at his blood color. Why were bad things happening because of him? At those thoughts, he continued slurring out his apologies repeatedly, though his apologies getting slightly less comprehensible with each one.
He knew long ago that he was less comprehensible when upset, so as he sat beside him holding some of the supplies he bought only hours ago, letting him lean on him, he shushed him softly and began cleaning the cut with a damp cloth. "Shhhhh, brother don't be sorry. It's my fault. It's all my motherfucking fault I wasn't here sooner. There ain't nothing wrong about you, it don't matter what he said." As he spoke, his hands worked to clean and make sure the cut didn't need stitches, luckily the answer was no. Placing a square of bandage over the wound and some medical tape to hold it down, he gave a light kiss to the bandage and smiled down at the other.
"Aw, come here, Helmsman," he said while cradling him again, wiping his tears. "I said I'd take care of you a long motherfucking time ago. We best friends, alright? I ain't never leaving you behind, and ain't nobody taking you away from me." He hasn't stated he agreed with the Signless yet, but by his attitude toward Helmsman, it was getting clear that that was the case.
Highblood began to hum again to him, rocking gently and wiping away any yellow tears that fell. After a moment, he began to sing quietly like he usually did, but by now his voice didn't shake. He got used to singing around the other.
He nodded a little and wiped his nose, his one wrist bruised from the pulling of the unknown troll. "H...Hurts." He muttered and held his wrist, letting out a light smile when the bandage was kissed. Yeah, that made him feel a little bit better. Someone cared about him and it was always good to know that fact.
Upon being cuddled again, he nodded at the words and nuzzled into Highblood softly before timidly kissing his cheek. "B..Best fr...fr...friends." He replied and went back to nuzzling him with a smile at the singing and rocking and whenever his tears were wiped away. After a few minutes, Helmsman hummed shakily along while his body twitched a few times.
The twitching was normal, but the little kiss on his cheek and confirming they were best friends in the verbal sense rather than nodding or moving his body to agree or just to hum. After a few minutes of this, he relaxed and began to slowly fall asleep in Highblood's lap with little snores.